Bent
by thatgleekychick
Summary: Part of the More Than You Think You Are series: She is so afraid at sixteen that is she closes her heart of to the possibility that she will end up an old woman forever alone. She's broken, but she wants the chance to be fixed.


AN: This is my take on the Duet's episode. Part of the More Than You Think You Are series. Based off of Matchbox Twenty's song Bent.

It's my first time writing Quinn/Sam!

R&R!

* * *

_I'm so scared that I'll never _

_be put back together_

She's had a hard year. She's able to admit that, she _has_ admitted that. She'd lost her boyfriend, given birth to a baby and then gave her baby away; and has hard as she had tried, she has realized that trying to make it work with Puck is entirely too painful. So as the new school year starts, Quinn makes herself a pledge; the year would be all about her. It is about finding herself and what makes her happy. That is the reason she decides to rejoin the Cheerios (even if her methods of achieving the position were less than moral). But she'd been that girl once before. The girl who did whatever it took to get what she wanted and she most certainly isn't above throwing Santana under the bus to get it. Because really Santana hasn't been very nice to her this year.

When Sam approaches her in the hallway, at her locker, about doing a duet together she's not sure why he wants to sing with her. Mostly because she thought he was supposed to be singing with Kurt, but partially because she made a fool of herself in the bathroom when she was helping him get cleaned up after his first (probably of many) slushie facial. Because really even though he told her that she had pretty eyes, she's pretty sure she remembers a moment before that where she was talking about being 'blue down there' and she's not sure what she was thinking because that definitely qualifies as too much information. But he's standing at her locker looking all charming with a huge smile on his face. So she takes a chance and follows him into an empty classroom. They talking a little astronomy and she thinks it's pretty amazing that he's fascinated with something that isn't football or Super Mario Brothers.

With a smile and only a few words he's able to convince her that at least trying this whole duet thing could be a good thing. He's flirting, she knows it. But despite the fact that it makes her completely nervous, she's letting him. She's not necessarily flirting back but he's got the charm on strong. They're doing good and she think even with those few moments that they could work well together. And then he tries to kiss her and she goes into survival mode. She pushes herself away from him because she can't. The only two boys she'd ever felt anything for, the boys she thought she had needed, both hurt her in a way she isn't sure she can come back from. She had become too dependent on them only to have them leave her when she needed them the most. So as much as she could have, she doesn't want to _need_ Sam. She can see the flash of hurt in his face when she tells him that she doesn't want to sing with him and walks out. She can't decide if that's a good or a bad thing.

She knew Rachel was up to something when the quirky brunette found her in the bathroom. Rachel is _always_ up to something. But she takes a chance when she finds Sam in the hallway. He's apologizing and she's trying really hard not to blush when he says she'll have to wear sunglasses when they're together.

She's sung songs in glee club before. She's had solos, but the last time she was up in front of the entire club like this she was dancing around with the unwed mothers club. They do great and halfway through the song she realizes she's been smiling the whole time. And then she realizes that he's made her smile through each of their rehearsals. And when they win and she tells him it's not a date, it's because it isn't.; it can't be. She's not dating, especially not the first cute boy who shows interest in her.

But they got and he picks her up at her house. She doesn't tell her mom because she really isn't up for whatever 'motherly' advice Judy Fabray is willing to dish out. Even though walking out of her front door Quinn knows it's not a date, she won't believe her mother won't see it that way. He opens the car door for her and she knows for sure that he's not from around here because she can't think of a single guy that would do that. Even Finn forgot on their first date, but then again Finn forgot a lot of things. Things are quiet and sort of awkward on the way to Breadstix. He comments about how this is his first trip to the restaurant and he was interested to see if the establishment was as good as Santana had raved. She feels a twinge of what she won't call jealousy when she hears him mention Santana. She wonders for a moment when he would have talked to Santana about her love for the restaurant, but she relaxes just a bit when she realizes that Santana is much too public about her love for the 'orgasmic sensation that is Breadstix'.

She makes comments during dinner about the breadsticks and how they're supposedly imported and when he calls her brave there's that urge to smile that she seems to be succumbing to more often lately. She thinks she ruined whatever it was between them when she thinks for a moment that the rumors are true and he's really gay. And she wonders for a moment how she could be so stupid. She wonders why she didn't stick to the original plan. She was sure in that moment that she had taken a chance once again and fallen flat on her face, once again. When he tells her that no, he's not gay, he just puts lemon juice in his hair, she's relieved and then again when she realizes that he's not angry with her for assuming. She tells him she thinks his hair is cute because she really does think it is and because she knows what it's like to do things just to be popular.

When she grabs the gift certificate from the table and places it in her purse, she's taking a chance. This year was about making herself happy and maybe, just maybe, Sam could be part of that. She is so afraid that if she keeps herself from this, from whatever it is that Sam could offer her, that she's never going to be able to experience that again. She is so afraid at sixteen that is she closes her heart of to the possibility that she will end up an old woman forever alone. She's broken, but she wants the chance to be fixed.

She says this to him at the end of their third date. She tries to kiss her again (and this time succeeds) and his forehead is resting against hers and her heart is racing and she's pretty sure this is the reward for opening her heart. But she knows that that same heart is still very fragile and its bruises and it's sort of damaged, _she's_ damaged. But he's never judges her before and when he says, "I like you. Broken, bruised, or damaged. I really like you," she's pretty sure she hasn't smiled that hard in the longest time.


End file.
